Austin Daniel Hendrick (born June 15, 2001) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to catch ...

in the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. The Reds compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central Divisi ...

organization. Hendrick was selected 12th overall by the Reds in the

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season standings. In ad ...

Amateur career

Hendrick grew up in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

and attended West Allegheny Senior High School, where he was both an outfielder and a starting pitcher on the baseball team. Regarded as one of the best collegiate recruits in his class early on, he committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

after his freshman year of high school when he batted .371 with three

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

s, 20 RBIs and 17

walk Walking (also known as ambulation) is one of the main gaits of terrestrial locomotion among legged animals. Walking is typically slower than running and other gaits. Walking is defined as an "inverted pendulum" gait in which the body vaults over ...

s and went 5-0 with 37

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safe ...

s in 34

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other tea ...

s as a pitcher. He batted .327 with a .519 on-base percentage and 12 RBIs, two doubles, two triples and two home runs with 23 walks in 79 plate appearances in his junior season. After the season, Hendrick played for the

United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team, also known as Team USA, represents the United States in international level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The United S ...

in the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation U-18 Baseball World Cup in Gijang, South Korea. He also played in the Under Armour All-America Game and won the event's home run derby as well as the MLB High School Home Run Derby.

Professional career

Hendrick was considered one of the top high school prospects for the

, and was selected 12th overall by the

. Hendrick signed with the Reds for a $4 million bonus. After not playing a minor league game in 2020 due to the cancellation of the season, Hendrick was added to Cincinnati's 60-man player pool with whom would train at

Prasco Park Prasco Park is a baseball park located in Mason, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. The ballpark opened in June 2008 on the campus of Prasco Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company. The facility serves as the home for a youth travel baseball club, the ...

. He made his professional debut in 2021 with the

Daytona Tortugas The Daytona Tortugas are a Minor League Baseball team of the Florida State League and the Minor League Baseball#Single-A, Single-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. They are located in Daytona Beach, Florida, and play their home games at Jackie R ...

of the

Low-A Southeast The Florida State League (FSL) is a Minor League Baseball league based in the state of Florida. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following ...

, slashing .211/.380/.388 with seven home runs, 29 RBIs and 16 doubles over 63 games. He struck out 100 times and walked 51 times over 209

at-bat In baseball, an at bat (AB) or time at bat is a batter's turn batting against a pitcher. An at bat is different from a plate appearance. A batter is credited with a plate appearance regardless of what happens upon completion of his turn at bat, b ...

s. He missed time during the season due to groin and wrist injuries. In 2022 he batted .217.

References

External links

USA Baseball profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hendrick, Austin 2001 births Living people Baseball outfielders Baseball players from Pittsburgh United States national baseball team players Daytona Tortugas players Dayton Dragons players Chattanooga Lookouts players 21st-century American sportsmen